Susan Wojcicki

From FilmMagic/Getty Images.

Bio

FOLLOW

Follow to get the latest news and analysis about Susan Wojcicki in your inbox.

Bio

In September 1998, Susan Wojcicki, fresh out of U.C.L.A.’s Anderson School of Management, had just bought a modest 2,000-square-foot house at 232 Santa Margarita Avenue in Menlo Park and needed a little help with the mortgage. So she decided to rent out her garage to two scrappy young Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whom she met through a friend. It’s safe to assume that no garage in the history of garages has turned out to be as lucrative as the one at 232 Santa Margarita.

While she was curious what the two were up to, the question among techie friends at backyard BBQs was often, “Who needs another search engine?” The answer from Brin and Page was: “Not another but a better search engine.” Wojcicki was intrigued and a year later hopped aboard as Google employee No. 16. Originally tasked with getting Google’s name out, she would eventually become the company’s “chief moneymaker,” in charge of all advertising products, which now pull in nearly $70 billion annually. And what came of 232 Santa Margarita Avenue? Google bought the house in 2006 for an undisclosed sum. “I haven’t had time to think about what we’ll do with it,” then C.E.O. Eric Schmidt told USA Today. “But I figured we should buy it sooner rather than later.”